The third installment in Lori Wilde's Stardust, TX series, Love of the Game is an endearing romance between an injured baseball player and his physical therapist. With strong professional ethics, plenty of emotional baggage and conflicting priorities, there are numerous obstacles Axel Richmond and Kasha Carlyle must overcome on the road to happily ever after.

Kasha has a lot riding on her new job with the Dallas Gunslingers so she works hard to ensure Axel recovers from a possible career ending shoulder injury. Having recently discovered she has an adult biological half-sister with Down Syndrome, she is doing everything possible to become Emma's legal guardian. Kasha was adopted as young child after a family tragedy and she is shocked by her strong emotional connection to her sister. Equally stunning is her intense and immediate attraction to Axel and even if her professional relationship with him precludes any type a personal relationship, her need for control would never allow her to give in to her passion for him. Having experienced firsthand the devastating effects of out of control passion, Kasha keeps a tight rein on her emotions and desires.

Axel cannot imagine life without baseball so he is extremely focused on overcoming his injury. Although initially skeptical of Kasha's treatment plan, he wants to avoid surgery so he reluctantly follows her instructions. Axel is extremely driven and when finds himself at loose ends, he is forced to revisit the very painful memories of the devastating loss of his young son. He is taken off guard by his growing feelings for Kasha but he is willing to explore the possibility of a future with her but she is incredibly resistant to the idea. Having finally breached her formidable defenses, Axel is very conflicted when his long held dream is within reach.

The romance element of the storyline is leisurely paced since Kasha has valid reasons to keep their interactions strictly on a professional level. Despite her efforts to maintain an emotional distance, she and Axel genuinely like and respect one another and friendship naturally grows between them throughout the course of Axel's treatment. Underlying all of their interactions is a simmering sexual tension that they both try to ignore, but once Kasha decides she has to alter some of her plans regarding Emma, they decide to act on their desire. Not too long after their relationship turns to romance, Axel is faced with a decision that makes Kasha rethink their future together. Will Kasha stop letting the events from her past prevent her from finding happiness?

Love of the Game is an emotional, passion-filled addition to Lori Wilde's delightfully charming Stardust, TX series. Each of the characters is superbly developed with believable issues to overcome. The storyline is engaging with just a touch of whimsy that perfectly balances the novel's more serious undertones. It is a heartfelt and beautifully rendered love story that will appeal to old and fans of this wonderful series. ( )

Good story about two people whose pasts affect their desire for relationships. Axel was focused on his baseball career, not only because it was his dream but also because it was his connection to his dead son. But a shoulder injury put his career in jeopardy and physical therapist Kasha Carlyle was his best chance to save that career. Kasha desperately needed the salary and benefits of her new job if she was going to have what she needed to get custody of her younger sister. Giving in to the attraction could be the death of that dream.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Axel and Kasha. The chemistry was there from the moment they met. Kasha fought it hard for two reasons. First, Axel was her patient, and she refused to cross that line. Second, Axel stirred up feelings in her that she didn't want. Keeping her emotions under control was very important to her. The things that she experienced as a child watching the interactions of her volatile parents left her with a distrust of passion. Also, her focus has been on gaining custody of Emma. Axel's main focus remained on his healing and return to baseball and his goals. But he couldn't deny how drawn he was to Kasha. I enjoyed their early interactions as Kasha used every trick at her disposal to get Axel to cooperate with her treatment. It was great fun to see him realize that she knew what she was doing. The attraction between them continued to build. I admired how Kasha remained true to her ethics, even as it became harder to do so. I liked how Axel seemed to know just how hard he could push Kasha without scaring her away.

I loved how both Axel and Kasha learned to grow and compromise as their relationship progressed. Their time together deepened their feelings, but neither could see how being together was possible. Axel saw his future with baseball creating a conflict between his traveling with the team and Kasha being rooted in Stardust. Kasha's focus on being what her sister needed left her feeling that there was no room for a relationship. I ached for both while they fought their battles with dreams, goals, and expectations. I loved the realism of their solution, as both of them found a way to make it work.

I also liked Kasha's realistic struggle over custody of her sister. Her shock at discovering Emma's existence and challenges were believable. I admired her determination to be part of Emma's life and her love for Emma was clear. There were some very sweet scenes of the two sisters together. I also felt Kasha's frustration at the party as her dreams ran up against reality. I liked Axel's support and his intervention at one point was brilliantly handled. I ached for Kasha as she struggled with the right thing to do.

Throughout the series, there has also been the presence of a magical hope chest. Kasha claimed that she didn't believe in the magic, but couldn't deny how two of her sisters found love. I enjoyed seeing her fight the truth of the special wine, especially once she discovered that Axel could taste it too. Now the only one left is Suki - where is her story? ( )

I DNFd this one. I couldn't get into it. The chemistry felt too forced for me. ( )

This is the third book in Lori Wilde's Stardust, Texas series, which features daughters from the Carlyle family of the mythical East Texas town of Stardust, and baseball players from the mythical Dallas Gunslingers team.  I read the first two books in the series, Back in the Game and Rules of the Game, about six months ago and about 11 months ago respectively.  You don't need to have read the other books to understand or appreciate this one, however.

Wilde has meshed far fewer romance tropes (which I've italicized) into this story than some of her others I've read. Our tortured heroine is physical therapist Kasha Carlyle, an orphan adopted at age seven after a terrible incident in her family of origin that leaves her with physical and psychological scars that make her anxious about losing control and feeling passion.  The athlete is injured pitcher Axel Richmond, who becomes Kasha's patient (office romance).  He too has scars, having lost his son at age ten to cancer.

This story has an interesting twist:  Kasha discovers she has a biological half-sister with Down syndrome, and is seeking guardianship of her.  This could be a bit of a complication to the budding romance.

There's further evidence in this book that Stardust might be modeled on Gladewater, the "Antique Capital of East Texas."  On page 3, concerning Kasha's commute to her job with the Gunslingers, Wilde writes,  "Every day, she made the one hundred and thirty-five mile, one-way trek to the stadium from her hometown of Stardust."  Gladewater is 135 miles from Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers baseball team.  Kasha's adoptive parents own an antique store in Stardust.

I've met Lori Wilde and I know she is a yoga devotee, just like Kasha.  She also has some interesting rituals that help her with her writing, which she speaks about in a recent interview.  "For each book I write, I make a musical playlist, a visual collage, and pick a scented candle that represents that book."  I think these help her writing be so descriptive.  Not only does she detail sights, but also sounds, smells, tastes, and textures.

I listened to the audio version performed by actress C. J. Critt.  Her reading had some unusual pauses and emphases, but I enjoyed her giving characters appropriate voices and Texas accents.

© Amanda Pape - 2016

[This audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.] ( )

Sweet Romance down in Texas. Sexy, athletic, injured Axel has a lot to recover from. Sweet, charming, physical therapist Kasha has only a week to get this man in shape in more ways than one. There was a lot more on the line than just not having a job any longer.

Axel was you all American athlete that does not know when its time to take a rest. he does not understand its more to life. Or do he? Loss of love has a way to make you not care about a lot of things. Including when you are injured and in need of time to heal.

Kasha was strong, goal oriented, and real. She said things the way they were not sugarcoated. Self-control was one of her things. She had one very important goal and that was to attain guardianship of her half-sister, Emma.

We have a contemporary romance that was built in Texas around an athlete and a physical therapist for an athletic team but this was not a sports romance. In this romance we find that burn of attraction that builds to a inferno as time goes on. The build of their relationship makes this that much sweeter to savor. Minding hearts, repairing souls, and fixing families can make a romance that much sweeter.

Lori Wilde knows how to bring the romance with that special Texas flair.
**This ARC was provided via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.** ( )